August 28 - 30 (Lesotho)

     We left Johannesburg around 9a.m. Sunday morning, heading south to Lesotho, where we arrived around 2:30p.m. The lodge we stayed at gave us a ‘chalet’ (they pronounce the ‘T’ as well: sha-let).  After settling in, claiming beds and all that, we wandered outside with books and such, enjoying the sun.  Guess who met us; an ostrich!  Most of us got to touch the ostrich, and when Becca stuck her hand out, the ostrich clamped down on it with her beak.  Becca decided she wasn’t going to hold her hand out any more. 

     About an hour after we arrived, we left again to find a grocery store in town.  We got to the mall at 5:15, only to learn that the Pick ‘n’ Pay had closed at 5, and that no other stores were open!  Early morning trip into town for Mom the next morning.  For dinner, we chose Spurs, saw they served ‘Mexicano’ food, and promptly ordered that.  I didn’t taste exactly like Mexican food, and nowhere as good as Mom’s, but it was something.

     That evening, we star gazed.  Without city lights, the stars were amazing!  We could see the Milky Way, and tons of constellations I didn’t recognize.  That was at 7:30, and none of us were ready to go to bed yet, but, of course, we had forgotten such things as cards or puzzles or DVD’s. Our solution: make a deck of cards with the few pieces of scratch paper we had (the bar menu for the lodge).  

     The next day, Mom left to drop Dad off at work at 7 o’clock, also intending to visit the store, which opened at 8.  She got back to the chalet at 10, because she had also needed to visit the Vodacom shop (dealing in cell phones) to pick up a Lesotho SIM card.  After she got back, we had a snack and headed out into the countryside, to see what there was to do.  While we didn’t find all that much, the country is beautiful, and I took quite a few pictures.  We headed back to the lodge when Jonathon got sick, and relaxed there for the rest of the day.

     On Tuesday, one of the World Vision workers, Maphathe, picked us up at 8:45 and took us out to one of the dams in the country.  We learned that there were four or five dams in this project, with the intent of sending water to South Africa, as well as generating power to sell to South Africa.  In the car, I tried to describe the countryside I saw around me

     Looking around me, I see a relatively dry land, brown and dusty.  Cactuses and scrub bush add green, and all over the place are bright pink fruit trees.  Those who live in Lesotho call them peach trees, but the fruit they describe sounds more like a plum or nectarine; Mom thinks it’s a plum.  Donkeys, cows, sheep, horses, and pigs wander around, sometimes with a shepherd to guide them.  The huts are either brick, red mud, or stone mosaic, often with thatch or tin roof.  There aren’t many cars on the roads; instead, people walk everywhere.  It’s impossible to capture the beauty of the land in either words or pictures, not with my little experience.  

     They call Lesotho the Mountain Kingdom, and rightly so, for Africa.  While the mountains don’t compare withe the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains, they are still mountains in this predominantly flat land.  In the distance, whatever way you look, you can see the caps of the mountains outlined against the bright blue sky.  The rural huts, large fields and gardens, and multitudes of pink and white fruit trees, along with the light green willow trees creates a look of serenity and a feeling of being close to nature.  

        We left Lesotho at 2p.m. that day, Tuesday, and arrived back here in Johannesburg at around 8p.m. that night.  While there wasn’t much to do in the country, the temporary boredom was quite worth it to leave wifi and city noise behind and visit this beautiful land.